Blossoming Chestnut Branches in a Vase

Catalogue numbers: F 820, JH 2010.

Blossoming spring branches symbolise the rebirth of nature, or hope and redemption in a wider sense. Van Gogh used this motif in a similar sense, referring mostly to events in his own life. On 16 May, 1890 he left the asylum by his own will and left Saint-R�my. When he arrived in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he was greeted by rampant vegetation. He had spent early spring down in the South, in Provence, but the North unexpectedly surprised him with a second spring, the inspiring effect of which can be seen in his choice of subject.

In Auvers, van Gogh painted the old chestnut trees on the street with white and pink flowers about to drop their petals, whereas in the present painting he depicted the blossoming chestnut branches as a still-life, in a jug together with rhododendrons. The unorthodox cutting of the picture and the asymmetrical composition reflect the influence of Japanese prints as in van Gogh’s works of similar subjects.